EA stock dips as company struggles to fix Battlefield 4 issues

Developer places other projects on hold, but EA says releases still on track.

Stock in Electronic Arts fell more than six percent yesterday after the company said developer DICE was placing other projects on hold as it struggles to fix server and gameplay issues with the recent release of Battlefield 4.

In a statement released late Wednesday, a DICE representative said the company was “not moving onto future projects or expansions until we sort out all the issues with Battlefield 4.” That means the development of announced games like Star Wars Battlefront and a new Mirror’s Edge is on the back burner while Battlefield issues get the developer’s full attention. The new focus also puts a hold on the development of three planned future BF4 expansions; the China Rising expansion, released earlier this week to Premium subscribers, was already in the final stages of development when issues with the base game arose.

"We know we still have a ways to go with fixing the game—it is absolutely our #1 priority,” the DICE representative said. “The team at DICE is working non-stop to update the game… We know many of our players are frustrated, and we feel your pain. We will not stop until this is right."

Yesterday, though, an EA representative told GameSpot that the focus on fixing Battlefield 4 “does not impact our release schedule for future titles.” EA stock is back up about 4 percent in early trading this morning, but some analysts think this is an example of a temporary “dead cat bounce” that may not hold. The stock is still up nearly 50 percent from the beginning of the year, but it's down about 25 percent from the year's high, which was attained in September.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl